ASO
LaunchApp Store Optimization: improving an app’s visibility and conversion inside the App Store and Google Play through metadata, creative assets, ratings and update recency.
Technical
Deep link
A URL that opens a specific screen inside an app rather than its home screen, or the website equivalent when the app is not installed.
Also called universal link, app link, deferred deep link
A deep link is a URL that routes into a specific place inside an app. Modern implementations use ordinary HTTPS URLs so the same link works whether or not the app is installed: Universal Links on iOS and App Links on Android, both verified by an association file served from your domain over HTTPS.
Three variants matter. A direct deep link opens a screen in an installed app. A deferred deep link survives an install, so someone who taps a link, gets sent to the store and installs the app lands on the intended screen rather than the home screen. A contextual deep link carries campaign or referral data through that journey.
Deep links matter during a launch because every announcement, directory listing and email you send reaches a mixture of people who have the app and people who do not, and a single URL should serve both correctly.
The failure mode to test for is cold start: the app is not running, the system launches it, and the routing has to happen after initialization rather than being dropped. That path is the one that breaks most often and the one nobody tests.
Last reviewed .
See also
App launch
LaunchThe dated moment an app is publicly released or presented to a new audience, together with the coordinated activity around it. An event, not a piece of software.
Canonical URL
SEOThe single preferred address for a piece of content, declared with a link rel=canonical tag so search engines consolidate duplicates onto one page.